Tears of a Dragon

Thaddeus ran at top speed through the forest, dodging fallen trees and branches, occasionally turning quickly to throw a fireball to minimize the group that was following him. About 10 minutes had passed since he had lost track of Merlin, who had apparently abandoned him to his fate. Thaddeus ran for another 10 minutes, his face showing fatigue and he was visibly sweaty from running so much, when he thought he could no longer run he heard labored breathing, like someone's sobbing, but they were louder as if they were from someone much larger than a person.

Thaddeus without hesitation ran towards the sobs, vaguely feeling Merlin's magic in that same direction. Thaddeus jumped through the fallen trees until he reached a huge open area. The area had clearly been cleared by someone or something, there were lots of trees lying around, as if they had been forcibly torn away by a great blizzard. In the middle of the area there was a large hill and in front of it was Merlin, looking directly at the hill.

Thaddeus stopped slowly, realizing that the corrupted ones were not advancing any further but they were not willing to leave either and stayed waiting right at the edge of the area. Thaddeus approached Merlin panting, he could still hear the sobs but he could not see anyone else besides Merlin.

-Merlin… finally… I find you- Thaddeus said panting tiredly.

-shhh- Merlin silenced him and made a sign for him to be quiet.

Merlin slowly approached the hill and slowly caressed it with his hand, Thaddeus looked at this silently without knowing what Merlin was doing until he noticed something strange on the hill. The hill rose and fell constantly, as if it were breathing. Merlin clapped his hands lightly and looked at the hill sadly.

-Oh... Stella... you don't need to hide, not in front of me- Merlin spoke to the hill

Slowly, at Merlin's words, the hill moved, letting the grass and dirt fall, revealing bright blue scales. The hill slowly changed shape until it became a huge and imposing dragon. The dragon turned to look at Merlin, bright golden tears dripping from its eyes, as if they were made of liquid gold.

-DEAD, THEY'RE ALL DEAD!!- cried the dragon known as Stella, letting herself fall in front of Merlin.

Thaddeus looked at Stella in shock, it was the first time he had seen a dragon so closely. Merlin approached Stella, hugging her just below her eye. Stella sobbed even harder at Merlin's hug. -I'm so sorry, Stella. No one knew this would end up like this- Merlin apologized

When the kings called the benign to war they asked Merlin to contact the dragorn and the dragons for support since Merlin was the only one who knew where they lived. Merlin asked them for help to which they quickly accepted, unfortunately the dragorn died during the war at the hands of the gods giving their race for extinction. Since then the dragons had been mourning their death, the two races had a strong bond for thousands of years ago, the dragons had seen and helped the creation of the dragorn and for them they were something more than just another race of the bunch, they were almost like their children, hence the name dragorn, an abbreviation of dragon born.

-THE GODS, IT'S ALL THE GODS' FAULT!!- Stella cried angrily, her eyes burning with a barely controlled fury -IF ONLY WE HAD REFUSED, IF ONLY WE HAD NOT PARTICIPATED IN THE WAR THEY WOULD BE ALIVE!!-

-It's not fair that you say that and you know it, participating in the war was their wish and you know it. They couldn't have just stood by and done nothing- Merlin answered

-I... I know it. We know it better than anyone- Stella answered and then looked towards where the corrupted were -BUT THAT DOESN'T RELIEVE THE PAIN IN MY HEART!!-

Stella roared releasing a powerful torrent of magic that swept away all the corrupted and spread until it opened a direct path to the meadows that Merlin and Thaddeus had entered. Thaddeus threw himself to the ground, holding on to whatever he could to avoid being blown away by the strong winds caused by Stella's attack. Merlin quickly stood in front of Thaddeus, raising his staff and creating a semi-transparent white shield out of pure magic.

-CURSE!!- Thaddeus screamed in fear at the pressure of such immense power.

Merlin's shield could barely resist until Stella decided to stop her attack. The corrupted had been completely eliminated by the attack, not even ashes of what they once were remained. Merlin gasped at the effort he had to make to resist the attack. Stella saw Merlin's tired form, discovering that something was not right.

-You're not the real Merlin, a clone?- Stella asked and Merlin nodded quickly -Mph, I figured. That attack shouldn't have been the least bit difficult for you to cover-

Stella laid down again, allowing Merlin to approach again and Thaddeus to get up with a bit of difficulty. Thaddeus looked surprised at the new clean area Stella had created.

-What are you doing here, Merlin? I see you didn't come to comfort a grieving friend- Stella asked

-Don't say that, Stella, I'll always be there for you and you know it- Merlin answered -If only I had known you were here and I didn't have so much on my plate, I would have come in person-

-Well you know I'm here, now tell me what's keeping you so busy?- Stella demanded to know.

Merlin sighed at his friend's anger, taking a few seconds to calm down and organize his mind, Merlin proceeded to tell him what had happened in the Blood Tears realm. Stella, upon hearing that the main purpose was to create something similar to a Dragon, did not take it well and even less when they told her about the participation of witches in the ritual, along with the book that Merlin had taken from Thaddeus where he had written down the entire process of the ritual. Stella glared at Thaddeus who thought she was going to eat him.

-You... how dare you disrespect our sacred ritual by trying to replicate it and even more, by using witches and blood magic! - Stella scolded Thaddeus approaching him.

-Stella wait, they didn't know this would happen. None of them knew that the witches were using Damnatus magic - Merlin pleaded for Thaddeus standing in front of him.

-tch, then what brings you to this forest, shouldn't you be taking care of those Vampires?- Stella asked still angry

-and that's what we do...- Merlin said indicating to Thaddeus to show the leaf

Thaddeus quickly took out the sphere where the Elder Tree leaf was and showed it to Stella. Stella looked at the leaf carefully and quickly understood the situation. The Elder Tree was known for not contacting anyone unless it had an important task for that person.

-so Elder wants you to take care of those vampires, huh?- Stella said understanding the situation -it seems fine to me, you humans created this plague, you clean it-

Stella settled back down and little by little several branches and herbs began to grow again on her body. Merlin understood that Stella no longer wanted to talk to them and this was her kind way of telling them to leave, shaking his head Merlin turned to Thaddeus indicating that it was time to leave. Thaddeus without refuting advanced quickly with Merlin, entering the depths of the forest. But before they could go too far into the forest, Stella's voice rang out through the forest until it reached them, giving Merlin a message.

-Be careful, your magic is too scarce being just a clone- Stella warned making Merlin smile slightly.

 —Break—

Merlin led the way through the depths of the forest, their destination still unknown to the two, he did not force them to stop but to advance more quickly. The trip from the edges of the forest to the depths lasted a month, in which they were constantly attacked by corrupted and goblins. Little by little Merlin felt how difficult it was for him to recover magic, his original body was very far away and it took longer to send magic to him, so without much to do about it he decided that it was better to leave the fights to Thaddeus in order to accompany him a little longer, and also take advantage to teach him magic.

-Come on, young Thaddeus, I know you can do it! - Merlin supported Thaddeus watching from a slope.

-You're not helping! - Thaddeus claimed dodging a tree "Who would say that this trip was actually dangerous" he thought

A few minutes ago, Thaddeus and Merlin were practicing magic when suddenly they were attacked by a 10 meter ogre, Merlin decided to let Thaddeus fight due to his low amount of magic. Thaddeus looked up, seeing that the ogre grabbed another tree and was about to hit it, he quickly raised his hand and snapped his fingers producing a purple wave that destroyed the tree and hit the ogre directly. The ogre fell disoriented and covering his ears.

-Excellent use of the sound spell, I see that our training has been useful to you- Merlin said proudly. -And from what I see, it's easier for you to use incantation spells than charms, isn't that so?-

-Yes, I find it easier to use natural magic than to use my own magic- Thaddeus revealed

-Mmm, that must be why you find it so difficult to use conjured charms. While incantations require natural magic and charms require your own magic, conjured charms require the use of both and good control, control that you don't have in your own magic- Merlin revealed.

Thaddeus clapped his hands unleashing another sound spell that hit the ogre squarely, the ogre crawled until it reached the tree that he had cast before, the ogre took the tree and threw it at Thaddeus causing him to dodge again.

-You're going to have to put him to sleep soon or you'll run out of magic- Merlin recommended

-I already realized!- Thaddeus answered dodging another tree -What can I use? I don't have any spell of such magnitude-

-Well... you could use a charm- Merlin advised

-Are you kidding?... Shit- Thaddeus answered

Thaddeus ran towards the ogre, using another sound spell that stunned the ogre and causing magic to run through his body he made a great leap climbing onto the ogre's head. Thaddeus put his hands on the ogre focusing his magic on him.

-Come on, it works, it works- Thaddeus tried to get the charm to work for a few seconds but all his efforts were useless, the ogre only got angrier when he felt Thaddeus' magic trying to put him to sleep -To hell with this!-

Thaddeus hit the ogre's ears with his palms and using a sound spell he emitted a wave that ran through the ogre's head. The ogre stopped his fight instantly and large amounts of blood began to come out of his orifices, the ogre collapsed on his front allowing Thaddeus to get off. Merlin slowly approached seeing the lifeless body of the ogre and then looked at Thaddeus.

-brain death- Merlin mentioned the cause of death -and I'm the sadist…- he said looking at Thaddeus

-at least it worked- Thaddeus answered

-of course it worked, what creature could survive such a thing?- Merlin asked pointing at the ogre who had a slimy thing coming out of his ears.

-is that the brain?- Thaddeus asked

-what else could it be?- Merlin answered -*sigh* well at least it's over-

Merlin turned to look at a lake not far from there, indicating to Thaddeus to follow him, the two walked towards the lake, a black lake that separated two different types of land. Thaddeus and Merlin were in a green land, the grass was a dull color and a little creepy, but it was still green. On the other side the land was a gray color, the grass seemed to be dead and without any color.

-What is that place?- Thaddeus asked as he took out the sphere where he had the Elder's blade and saw that the blade pointed to that place.

-As I feared...- Merlin said seeing the blade -That place, young Thaddeus, is the true cursed forest. A small forest right in the center of the cursed forest, from there the creatures of the night are born, a place where the light of day does not reach and only the stupid decide to explore-

Thaddeus closed his eyes in resignation and cursing his luck while Merlin squeezed his staff tightly, Merlin begged not to have to go into the depths of that land, since even he could not help Thaddeus much before disappearing due to lack of magic.

-Merlin... what is that?- Thaddeus asked feeling a magic that came from under the ground.

-That is the accumulation of magic from the creatures of the night- Merlin responded -From now on we will have to advance very carefully, we do not want to alert certain unwanted creatures- Merlin ordered.